The State Language of East Pakistan (Part 2)

Syed Mujtaba Ali Now let’s turn to the objects by the Urduwallahs to accepting Bangla as the language of the state, government, and culture in East Pakistan. Their main object is that Bangla is a Hindu language. It contains a Hindu heritage and a Hindu culture. If East Pakistan accepts this language it will take …

The State Language of East Pakistan (Part 1)

Syed Mujtaba Ali Note: Had to translate this as a part of a larger project and thought I'd post it here for future use. There was never any doubt in our minds that the state language of East Pakistan would eventually be Bangla, and we know without any doubt that although the demand of Bangla …

The Medium is the Message: Reading Literature on the Page

Reading on the screen relies more on the visual cortex and reading on the page relies more on the language centers. When we read a page, our eyes move in a series of short, rapid movements called saccades, followed by a brief pause during which the brain processes the information. This process is called the "fixation-regression" cycle, and it allows us to comprehend and retain information efficiently and it takes place in our language centers. It also means that during this process we translate the information into symbols and mediate it through what I would term imagination, or the ground of what John Keats calls our “negative capability.”

Mystification and Idealism in Higher Education

When my mind wonders, which is often, I end up fixating on the significance of such architecture and design. What do these grand buildings mean? Why are they here in the middle of sheep fields where the air can souped with the odor of manure on humid afternoons? Why are those of us who live here do so with such a sense of purpose and pretension about our urbanity and sophistication?

Compound Phrasing in Bangla (notes from Syed Mujtuba Ali)

I was reading a short essay by Syed Mujtaba Ali titled "ভাষা"। In it he points out the peculiar feature of Bangla where we create compound words where the first term is Bangla and the second term is a same word in another language. This second words tend to come from Arabic, Hindi, Farsi, English, …

Framing 101: How to Take Back Public Discourse

That is what framing is about. Framing is about getting language that fits your worldview. It is not just language. The ideas are primary and the language carries those ideas, evokes those ideas.

New chapter on plurilingualism and religious texts by 19th century Muslim Bengali communities (ask me if you need a copy)

Rabbi, S. “The Sociolinguistics of South Asian Cosmopolitan Literature: The Dubhasa (Mixed Language Modes) of the Puthi Tradition in Muslim Bengal.” In J. Lee (Ed.) The Sociolinguistics of Global Asias (pp. 156-170). New York: Routledge. Abstract: Scholars of language have long been interested in the widespread plurilingualism of South Asian communication. These linguistic practices provide …

Piece on the Uptake Processes of Feedback in the Journal of Response to Writing

This is my new article in the Journal of Response to Writing titled "Uptake Processes in Academic Genres: The Socialization of an Advanced Academic Writer Through Feedback Activities." In this study I examine and interpret the case of a graduate student negotiating in-person and textually mediated feedback in research group meetings and reviewers' letters. I …

Co-written piece on Cosmopolitanism and Plurilingual Education with Dr. Suresh Canagarajah

The Routledge Handbook of Plurilingual Language Education is out now. It includes a co-written chapter by me and Dr. Suresh Canagarajah "Cosmopolitanism and Plurilingual Traditions: Learning from South Asian and Southern African Practices of Intercultural Communication". It seems to be available to read on Google books for now, which is cool. In the chapter we …

What Does It Mean to Write in an Everyday Life?

There is a paradox to literacy in our contemporary societies. This generation – sometimes called digital natives – read and write more than any other in history; yet, they are also as adverse to writing activities as all others. Go ahead, and ask any student on any college campus when was the last time they …